Europe gets four golds on the final day of the Youth Olympic Games - European Athletics (EAA) - News
European athletes took four of the final 12 gold medals that were awarded on the final day of the athletics programme at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore on Monday.
France’s Alexia Sedykh - the daughter of two Russian world record holders, hammer thrower Yuriy Sedykh and shot putter Natalya Lissovskaya – followed up her success at the European Youth Olympic Trials in May with a win on the global stage.
She initially struggled in the slippery circle, with rain making life difficult for the hammer throwers, with two fouls but then found her best form in the third round with her winning effort of 59.08m, nearly two metres better than anyone else could manage.
“I think she was trying to kill us,” joked her watching father Yuriy, who is a professor of physical education at the Leonardo Da Vinci University in Paris, where the family is now based.
Belarus’ Alena Navahrodskaya took the silver medal with 57.34m.
Another gold medal will be on its way back to France after Aurélie Chaboudez sped to victory in the girls 400m hurdles, clocking a personal best of 58.41. Denmark’s Stina Troest also set a personal best in second with 58.89.
“I did not expect this at all, such a victory is a dream come true. To hear the Marseillaise while I was standing on the podium gave me chills and when the other athletes in the France team took me in their arms, I cried,” said Chaboudez.
“My parents and friends in France got up at 4am to watch me run via the internet. When I had my mother on the phone, she cried as well. It's magic. Back in the spring, I was just thinking I’d be here for experience but little by little, I told myself that I was not allowed to miss a chance like this,” she added.
Khadijatou Sagnia added another gold medal to the Swedish haul in Singapore when the 16 year-old bounded out to a 2010 world-leading mark of 13.56m with her second attempt to win the girl’s triple jump. France’s Sokhna Galle was a distant second with 13.04m.
The boy’s pole vault gold went to Spain's Didac Salas, who cleared a personal best of 5.05m, along with Brazil's Thiago da Silva, on his second attempt before failing at 5.15m. However, Salas got the verdict and the victory after being flawless before his winning height while da Silva had failures earlier in the competition.
Croatia’s Ivan Horvat, who has gone over 5.26m and was the leader in the world this year, had big problems with the wet runway and could go no higher than 4.70m for eighth place.
All of the Europe’s winners at the Youth Olympic Games will be eligible to compete at the 2011 European Junior Championships which will be held in the Estonian capital of Tallinn between July 21-24, 2011.
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